ta da! the finished article

And so here are the pictures of the frame from the previous post - miraculously completed and landscaped! If only real builds could happen so quickly eh?

Doesn't it look great? Modern but considerate and totally appropriate for the site, which is amazing. Well done to the owners, we hope you have many happy memories here.

I'm not usually a fan of oak frames without traditional sole plates (the horizontal beam which lies at ground level or just above the plinth) but this building has changed my mind. I love the way the glazing runs to the ground and the building appears to growing out of the plot - and I bet the natural light inside is amazing.

This is a 'typical' Border Oak glazed link solution to connecting an extension to an older property. It allows you to leave the existing building alone whilst integrating the new building honestly and deliberately.

If you had a view like this then you would want as much glass as possible.......and I love the understated contrast between the two buildings. 

What do you all think?

I can't wait to see the finished result

A lovely client kindly sent these photos to us showing his Border Oak frame being erected by our gang - the beautiful hand made cruck frame is an extension to his home, linked by a small glazed frame. It will be pretty impressive once finished and I will post the completed project pics here.

He also bought one of our outbuilding frames to erect himself - and what a great job he did! Looks very good indeed.

I hope he isn't having to stand there to hold the building up.....

and here is the garage before the rafters are finished

The end gable of the extension

The internal frame is formed by a curved truss and will look amazing internally

the demonstration house

Border Oak are hoping to build a 'show house' next year - demonstrating how oak frames can be used for contemporary projects and also showcasing how Border Oak might approach the more and more stringent eco regulations - we are aiming to the top level of classification on the Code for Sustainable Homes - a tough and expensive challenge. 

It's no cutting edge avant guarde fantasy creation but more of a 21st Century reinterpretation of a redundant barn - to respect the Conservation Area and residential surroundings (aka satisfying the local authority and pleasing the neighbours) but  also because what Border Oak does best is contemporary vernacular.

It will be super insulated, with local, prefabricated materials and systems, carbon neutral (or maybe even carbon negative) and low impact. We are using a wood pellet boiler, PVT panels, underfloor heating, Black Mountain Sheeps wool, Hempcrete and of course, green oak.

I will try to keep a detailed 'self build diary' as we go so its progress can be shared step by step - but once it is up and running please do come and see it and let us know what you think. It's an exciting project for Border Oak but one we hope to share with all sorts of self builders, developers, schools, planners and designers.

The plans were a shared design effort between Dad, my cousin Jim and myself - but lots of things were included or altered at the planners request and after consulting neighbours.

The site isn't huge, but there is a walled section and views over a field so it has some good points. It is 2 mins from Border Oak's office and workshop and in a great village so should be an improvement from the old corrugated industrial unit that was there.

I would love to rent or purchase some of the field behind and plant a small orchard and herb garden - maybe get a couple of Border Oak donkeys?!! I think a wildflower underskirt in an old fashioned orchard would be just beautiful.

ho ho ho!

I am so sorry that I haven't updated this for ages - sometimes life just gets in the way of all the fun stuff! Brochures, websites and magazine articles all need to be done but I am making progress so 2010 is looking like being a vintage year - it's Border Oak's 30th anniversary (30 years......I can't believe it!) and I am determined to make it great.

Anyway the house here is slowly getting the Christmas treatment - but everything has to be waist height or higher because of pesky Gabriel -  there have only been two bauble casualties so not too bad (and all the posh baubles are at the top of the tree!)

Here are some photos of the advent calendar I made for Min and Gabriel consisting of chocolate coins, a polar bear, old paper hearts and , um, an octopus and anchor - and I will being posting about the show house update and about a lovely cruck framed barn later this week - to make up for being a truely awful blogger.

getting blood from a stone

Now, I really, really like the Border Oak Project Managers - all 4 of them are lovely people, super good at their jobs and veritable fountains of knowledge. But trying to get hold of photos of current projects can be tricky - pretty much IMPOSSIBLE! So I nag, email, nag some more, get someone else to nag, offer to make cakes and yet I am lucky to get a handful of pics of gutter stops and scaffolding.

Admittedly some of them are better than others - Mark even supplied me with my current blog topper photo and I have a whole disc load from Ed who has kindly edited out the less interesting photos for me. 

But I do I know they are really busy people and are getting actual houses built so I will cut them some slack..........for now. 

Anyway here are some of the fabulously charming Eds lovely pics -  great projects, beautifully project managed and for which I am eternally greatful!

This house is a bit like mine but with windows and doors on the gable end rather than a chimney - to make the most of views over a pretty orchard with free range chickens.

the interior looks good too - a vaulted ceiling and open frame work

And this is a much much bigger version of our house - using the same construction methods but illustrating how bespoke a Border Oak house can be - I really like the back of this house and can't wait to see how it weathers into the plot.

I think this exposed oak frame will also look fab once it has settled in. It seems to have a very interesting facade and a good mix of materials.

I will try to remember to add this house to my list of 'to do' photos as it looks as if it will photograph really well. I love the exposed oak, the curved step and the hint of the basement below. More unfinished houses to follow - no gutter stops I promise!

I heart winter

It really feels like winter now - my favorite time of year, if only it wouldn't rain (curly hair and rain are not a good partnership). 

I love the dark nights, the frosty air and lighting the fire. I even love the long build up to Christmas (although getting my first Christmas card on the first of November has really irked me - yes it's super organised, but I think it kills the festive spirit to know you are just a job ticked off the list - oh well). And this year I have joined an ornament exchange where I make 10 Chrimbo ornaments, post them to a list of people sent to me by the exchange organisers and the wait to receive my surprise ornaments in the post - it will either be brilliant or awful but sounded like fun nonetheless. Not sure what I will do with 10 hand knitted reindeer.......

Any way back to oak framing....... I have put together some pics of an unusual conversion/new build designed and completed by Border Oak. With an open plan feel, mezzanine gallery and amazing two storey glazed elevation (looking over some spectacular un-spoilt Shropshire countryside) it really is a great holiday home - I really enjoyed styling theses photos last year and hope you like it.

p.s one of the re- edited Border Oak brochures came today - a week late but that is quite an improvement (I once waited 18 months for a brochure to be designed and printed........) I think I like it but will have another look after my cup of tea. sometimes when you work on something so closely you almost lose the 'buzz' of the delivered result. Two more brochures to do and then the website to refresh.

too many cakes

Our beautiful son, Gabriel, was one at the end of September and the lovely Minerva was 5 at the end of October so we have had a lot of parties, presents and cakes at chez Albright recently. We moved into our house 4 years ago (on Minerva's 1st birthday) so it feels that a huge amount has happened here since then. 

Looking back on the photos of Min's 1st birthday the most shocking difference is the garden (which wasn't a garden at all 4 years ago - we didn't even have a front step, just a gaping 2ft jump) and how bare the house was - no rugs, photos, sofas or even kitchen table. 

Over time the layers of normal family stuff have grown, and we have accumulated more furniture, paintings and an embarrassing number of toys. It has happened so quietly that we didn't really notice, just as the hedges and trees have silently matured and thickened. And although I may get annoyed with the endless mucky paw prints on the Farrow and Ball paint, the trails of plastic squeaky toys and half eaten apricots,  looking back at the empty and sparse house we used to have I am so pleased that my little ones have helped us make a home.